Penny Marshall’s comedy in 1988 “Big” had a fun and fantastic premise. A 12 -year -old boy named Josh (David Moscow) is tired of being treated like a child, believing that the world is too often led to people in his age group. Unhappy, Josh visits a carnival and finds a fortune machine / bearing wishes made of money called Zoltar. He inserts his money and wishes to be “big”, only to wake up in the morning after in the body of Tom Hanks, who was 32 years old at the time. Suddenly, 20 years older, Josh flees his panicked mother (Mercedes Ruehl), who does not recognize him and is forced to enter the adult workforce to survive. The only person who knows his secret is his best friend Billy (Jared Rushton).
Advertisement
“Big” was a tour de force of all the people involved in its manufacture and was then nominated for two Oscars, including the best actor (for Hanks) and the best original scenario (for Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg). The film was made for a means of $ 18 million at the time, but obtained a huge $ 151.7 million at the box office.
Since 1988, various magazines have published retrospectives on “Big”, so its development is well known. It would initially be a film by Steven Spielberg with Harrison Ford in the role of Josh, but Spielberg rather transmitted the project to work on “Empire of the Sun”. Finally, Marshall went on board and the net was thrown to find an adult actor who could play a 12 -year -old boy. Josh’s role was offered to almost all the big star in Hollywood at the time. Warren Beatty was approached for the film, just like Matthew Modine. Likewise, Kevin Costner, Sean Penn, Steve Guttenberg, John Travolta, Jeff Bridges, Gary Busey and Andy García all auditioned or were considered for the role, but each were refused for various reasons.
Advertisement
In an interview with Popeater (transcribed by digital spy In 2011), Dennis Quaid confirmed that he also came to play in “Big” before transmitting the project.
Dennis Quaid, surprisingly, refused
In 1988, Quaid was already a notable film star. He had previously appeared in the drama worthy of an Oscar “The Right Stuff” in 1983, in addition to playing the main role or co-driating in films like “Dreamscape”, the “Enonous enemy”, “The Big Easy” and “Innerspace”. He was very on demand, which also meant that he could be picky on the projects he chose. He admitted that he refused “big” to be able to take a different job, explaining:
Advertisement
“I think I refused it for something else. […] Well, I don’t remember what it was. I also refused ‘Peggy Sue got married, ‘ It turned out to be a good choice. But it dropped [Francis Ford] Coppola. “”
Quaid, to apply a career calendar, played in “Everybody’s All American” and the remake of “Doa” in 1988 before playing Jerry Lewis in “Great Balls of Fire!” In 1989. It was very likely that he refused “big” for one of these films.
In Pateater’s interview, Quaid said he had not regretted refusing the role and was happy for the success of the film. He pointed out that his only career regrets were unable to work with some of his favorite directors, such as David Lean. It was a change in attitude compared to An interview from 2002 Quaid carried out with Larry KingWhere he said that he had indeed regretted having refused “big”. At the time, he didn’t even remember why. “Why did I refuse” big? “I forgot.
Advertisement
It is not surprising that he does not remember. The end of the 1980s was, after all, a successful but difficult period for Quaid, which frankly spoke of its anorexia and its cocaine dependence at the time. He kicked in the 1990s, found religion and continues to act to date.
Tom Hanks, meanwhile, also seems to be fine.
